Residents to get a say about neighbourhood

MORE than 2,600 households are to benefit from a new scheme being launched on Monday which will give local residents the ear of everyone who serves their community from police and fire fighters to charity workers and council bureaucrats.

The Harrogate District Strategic Partnership is piloting the district’s first Neighbourhood Management Project in the Woodfield Ward. Neighbourhood management programmes have been helping deprived areas for nearly 10 years since the idea was promoted by a Government think tank.

The idea is all the agencies work together with the community to bring about change by ensuring services match up to needs. This is the first time the approach has been tried in Harrogate.

All 2,600 Woodfield homes have already been surveyed to give all those living in the ward the opportunity to tell the partnership about the good things in their ward and what problems the new scheme should tackle.

Concerns which have already come to light include traffic and road safety, litter and recycling and anti-social behaviour, including dog fouling.

Local ward councillors, County Councillor Geoff Webber and borough councillors Andrew Goss and Greta Knight have been working with the partnership, to put on the two-week event.

Areas to be targeted include caring for the environment, healthier lifestyles, access to services, community safety and housing.

Neighbourhood watch members will team up with 999 workers, local authorities, charities, voluntary groups, schools, and the NHS to ensure the new strategy makes a difference.

Council leader and chairman of the Local Strategic Partnership Mike Gardner said: “I want to thank everyone who is involved in this. We can certainly address many of the issues that are concerning residents but in the long term we want to have a local neighbourhood that can manage those problems together. This is a great opportunity for Woodfield Ward.”

n The launch will be at 3pm at Bilton Children’s Centre, Woodfield Road. All residents will be sent a programme of events for the two weeks.